Effective Strategies For Managing Workload And Prioritizing Tasks

Scenario – Sunshine Advertising

Questions:

Scenario – Sunshine Advertising

You are a manager in a lucrative advertising company and have a team of 15 staff members but at the moment two of them are working closely with you to complete some very important jobs.

Tasks

Pretty Boutique is a key client of yours and has asked for your company to prepare some advertisements for their fashion showcase. Today is Tuesday, and you know the draft brochure will take at least one day to be ready for the Boutique to look at. The fashion show is scheduled for Wednesday in two weeks time.

After looking at the draft brochure, Pretty Boutique advises you on Friday of a problem that needs fixing. They informed you that the venue had to be changed as it was not big enough for their showcase. You now realise that the advertisements will need to be changed which will take at least 2-3 hours to fix so you will now have to get Joshua to help you.

Staff jobs

Currently, you have two staff working with you and their normal tasks are:

Grace’s tasks	Time needed	Joshua’s tasks	Time needed
Receptionist	every day	Assist the desktop	3 hrs per week
Clerical assistance to you	3 hrs per day	publishers	3 hrs per week
Make travel bookings for representatives	2 hrs per week	Update webpage Incoming and Outgoing Mail	1 hr per day
Word processing for company	3 hrs per day	Banking	1 hr per day
Order stationery	1 hr per month	Assist you	2 hr per day

Staff workload

Grace arrives late to work very upset. You asked her what her workload was like for the day and she bursts into tears. She said that she is not up-to-date and still has the following outstanding tasks to complete in addition to her normal day-to-day work:

• Book a rental car for you to picked up in Melbourne next Monday
• Melbourne travel arrangements and accommodation for you and the two sales representatives
• The Power Point presentation for you to present at a Conference next week
• Last month’s stationery order.

Grace is very behind with her work and you need to arrange for someone to help her.

You check with Joshua and find out that he is up-to-date with his tasks, but mentioned that the desktop publishers are snowed under with work and have asked him to help out longer than the usual three hours allocated each week).

He mentioned to you that Grace had broken up with her husband, is very stressed and therefore behind with her work.

The Director of the company has indicated in a recent email that no staff members were allowed to do any more overtime so you are now faced with a dilemma as to how to deal with this situation.

Task 1 

Use the table format below and make lists of Joshua and Grace’s work. Prioritise these work tasks for the next week using the “URG-IMP” system of Prioritising by importance and urgency.

Task	Importance	Urgency	Priority	Estimated time	Deadline

Task 2 

Using the information in Question 1, prepare work schedules for yourself, Grace and Joshua for the next week showing the team priorities and resource availability.

You may use Microsoft Outlook to create a schedule or use the sample calendar below for each staff member i.e. one for you, Grace and Joshua.

Work plan for ………………………………………..

Time	Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday
9 am – 10 am
10 am – 11 am
11 am – 12 pm
12 pm – 1 pm
1 pm – 2 pm
2 pm – 3 pm
3 pm – 4 pm
4 pm – 5 pm

Task 3

1. What realistic contingency plans would you use should the following situations arise:

a) Grace takes two days sick leave.

b) The person working on the problem for Pretty Boutique takes three hours longer than planned?

What steps can be taken to prevent the situation of staff being so far behind, from happening again?

c) Prepare a report for your next team meeting that covers the following:   

• Reviewing the problems of the past weeks
• Identifying opportunities for improvement and learning
• Rebuilding morale
• Some stress management techniques.

Task 4

Prepare a professional development plan for Grace addressing some of the areas you would like her to improve and include the following types of self-development activities:

1. Mentoring

2. On-the-job learning

3. Formal studies

4. Formal or informal networks.

Joshua’s Work

Task	Importance	Urgency	Priority	Estimated Time	Deadline
Assist the desktop Publishers	Yes important	Moderately urgent	3.	4 hours  required (3hrs + 1 hour extra due to back log	Next week
Update  web page	Yes important	Not very urgent	5.	3 hours required	Maximum in 3 Weeks’s Time
Incoming and Outgoing  mail		Yes, very much	1.	1 hour required	Today (every day)
Banking	Yes		4.	1 hour required	Tomorrow
Assisting the Manager		Yes, very much	2.	2 hours  required	Tomorrow

Task	Importance	Urgency	Priority	Estimated Time	Deadline
Receptionist work	Yes important		3.	1 hour required	Today (every day)
Clerical assistance to the manager (power point presentation to be made for the conference)	Yes important		2.	3 hours required	Tomorrow
Making travel bookings for representatives (travel arrangements for Melbourne and car rental bookings)	Highly Critical	Highly urgent	1.	2 hours + 1 hour back log= Total 3 hours required	Today
Word Processing for Company		Moderate urgency	5.	3 hours required	Next week
Ordering stationery for company	Very much important	Moderate urgency	4.	2 hours (1hr this month plus 1 hr last month)	After two week’s time

Work schedule for Manager (Self)

Time	Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday
9 am- 10 am	Revising Advertisement work for Pretty Boutique	Monitoring advertisement project progress of Pretty Boutique	Working on movers and shakers projects	Feedback review meeting for Movers and shakers project	Attending all hands meeting within the company
10 am- 11 am	Revising Advertisement work for Pretty Boutique	Budget Preparations task for upcoming quarter	Working on movers and shakers projects	Break	Working on feedback received on Movers and shakers  project
11 am- 12 pm	Understanding project requirements of Movers and shakers project	Budget Preparations task for upcoming quarter	Performance Review meeting with entire team	Break	Finalization of Movers and shakers  project
12 pm- 1 pm	Break	Break	Break	Monitoring movers and shakers project progress	Performance evaluation of team members
1 pm- 2 pm	Client meeting, Pretty Boutique	Break	Break	Break	Break
2 pm- 3 pm	Client meeting- Pretty Boutique	Client meeting- Pretty Boutique	Working on movers and shakers	Onsite meeting with  a new client	Performance Review meeting
3 pm- 4 pm	Break	Finalization of advertisement project with Pretty Boutique	Customer visit and meeting with movers and shakers	Onsite meeting with  a new client	Meeting with the Mover and shakers Client
4 pm- 5 pm	Making Power point presentation for Project	Break	Customer visit and meeting with movers and shakers	Break	Break

Work schedule for Joshua

Time	Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday
9 am- 10 am	Revising Advertisement work for Pretty Boutique	Assisting manager on Pretty Boutique project	Assisting manager with movers and shakers project	Feedback review meeting for Movers and shakers project	Attending all hands meeting within the company
10 am- 11 am	Revising Advertisement work for Pretty Boutique	Assisting manager on Pretty Boutique project	Checking emails and replying emails	Checking emails and replying emails	Assisting manager with feedback on movers and shakers project.
11 am- 12 pm	Break	Checking emails and replying emails	Banking	Assisting manager	Finalization of Movers and shakers  project
12 pm- 1 pm	Checking emails and replying emails	Banking	Break	Assisting manager	Banking
1 pm- 2 pm	Client meeting, Pretty Boutique	Break	Break	Assisting the desktop Publishers	Assisting the desktop Publishers
2 pm- 3 pm	Client meeting- Pretty Boutique	Client meeting- Pretty Boutique	Assisting manager with movers and shakers project	Assisting the desktop Publishers	Break
3 pm- 4 pm	Banking	Finalization of advertisement project with Pretty Boutique	Customer visit and meeting with movers and shakers	Banking	Meeting with the Mover and shakers Client
4 pm- 5 pm	Assisting the desktop Publishers	Assisting the desktop Publishers	Updating Webpage	Updating Webpage	Checking emails and replying emails

Work schedule for Grace

Time	Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday
9 am- 10 am	Making urgent travel bookings	Clerical assistance to the manager on Pretty Boutique project	Clerical assistance to the manager on movers and shakers projects	Clerical assistance to the manager on movers and shakers projects	Attending all hands meeting within the company
10 am- 11 am	Receptionist work	Receptionist work	Receptionist work	Receptionist work	Receptionist work
11 am- 12 pm	Car Rental Bookings	Clerical assistance to the manager for preparing project budgets	Car Rental Bookings	Making travel bookings	Clerical assistance to the manager on movers and shakers projects
12 pm- 1 pm	Clerical assistance to the manager for pretty boutique project	Ordering stationery for company	Break	Clerical assistance to the manager on movers and shakers projects	Clerical assistance to the manager on movers and shakers projects
1 pm- 2 pm	Clerical assistance to the manager pretty boutique project	Break	Clerical assistance to the manager on movers and shakers projects	Break	Break
2 pm- 3 pm	Break	Break	Break	Break	Break
3 pm- 4 pm	General Clerical assistance to the manager	Clerical assistance to the manager for pretty boutique project	Word Processing for Company	Word Processing for Company	Making travel bookings
4 pm- 5 pm	Break	Clerical assistance to the manager for pretty boutique project	Word Processing for Company	Break	Word Processing for Company

The following are the highlights of some of the contingency plans that may be used-
 
a) If Grace takes a two day sick leave, another resource from the department, among the other thirteen employees reporting the manager, has to be deployed for a temporary period of those two days to work on the urgent tasks as per the schedule. Also a temporary resource may be arranged to cover Grace’s task in that situation.

b) Joshua is the person to be appointed to fix the problem for Pretty Boutique. In case the work gets delayed by two hours, Grace has to be requested to assist in managing critical tasks of Joshua at the agency.

Constant monitoring of the staff performance against the schedule and linking timely delivery with performance management would curb the habit of staying behind the schedule. Also regular team meetings monitoring the progress at work by each of the employees, would encourage them to perform better and in a timely manner.

c) Report for the next team Meeting:

Purpose

The Purpose of this report would be to identify and resolve the key work issues faced by the team members since past three weeks and to come up with practical solutions to avert these issues.

Findings

The increased work pressures and the act of adhering to the stringent project deadlines have stressed out most of the team members working under the manager. Few of the negative feedbacks from the client’s side regarding the drafts submitted of the advertising project with Pretty Boutique, have also hurt sentiments of few dedicated employees handling the project.

Motivational talks, employee recognitions and team activities should be highly included in the busy schedule of the team members. These changes would help the manager on inculcating positivism and energy in the staff that would eventually contribute towards continuous improvement and learning among the team members.

Conclusions

Working on the recommended actions would not only help the team members gain confidence and efficiency in their job roles, but would also help in them in making work more interesting for them, thereby increasing their morale.

Professional Development Plan for Grace:

Grace is a junior level employee who is hard working and honest, but lacks a bit of professionalism. In fact she allows her personal life obstacles, affect her professional life. However, she has the potential to be groomed to become one of the best performing employees of the organization, with an effective professional development plan.

The following actions may be undertaken under the Professional Development Plan for Grace, with adherence to a stipulated time frame as mentioned-

• Grace may be asked to upgrade her professional skills, by giving her an opportunity to complete a short term advertising management course. This would be targeted in a time frame of 6 months to a year.
• Grace may be allotted a mentor, to monitor her performance and suggest improvements to her at work. This activity may be carried for a month.
• Grace may also be actively included in team building activities to get her more acquainted with the organizational culture and make her feel an important resource of her team. A period of three months may be targeted for this exercise.

Thus, providing adequate work support through formal networks at the agency would also help Grace in taking up her work priorities and responsibilities more professionally and seriously.